Player Ratings: Fulham 0-1 West Ham United

The individual scores after a dismal defeat at the Cottage.

Some things never change. What felt like a huge opportunity to go within the European qualification places in the Premier League was scuppered by a terrible performance that lacked any spark or invention. Southampton on Sunday may provide fresh hope of glory elsewhere, but if the last three years are anything to go by, we’ll fall short of a day out at Wembley anyway. Here’s a depressing set of ratings…

Bernd Leno

What’s rather frustrating is that he was having a very good game. He made a confident save in the opening seconds to deny Taty Castellanos, and similarly early in the second half tipped over a strong Soucek header. Another strong save followed minutes later from Bowen down to Leno’s left, and it felt like the Leno of old with that level of shot stopping. But the mistake was unforgivable, taking no responsibility despite rushing out of his goal, leaving a completely empty net in what turned out to be the game-changing moment. An absolute howler, which drags his rating down massively from what could have been a superb clean sheet, unfortunately. 6/10

Kenny Tete

For once, I don’t think you can confidently say Tete won the battle on his wing. Summerville is a forward in fine form and you could see the confidence he had, playing passes around Tete well and getting into some wonderful crossing positions. The fact he had to make more ‘defensive recoveries’ than normal suggests he was being beaten by his winger more often, too. No real attacking input to push his rating up either. 5/10

Issa Diop

For me, our best player on the night, and the one who made the fewest mistakes in a team performance full of poor football. He was insanely good in the air, winning all five of the duals he contested with his head. He was superb in pushing up and winning the ball near the halfway line to prevent Taty or Wilson running in behind. His passing was solid as you like, always trying to change the direction of play where possible. It’s a shame very few played with the same positivity and intensity he did. 7.5/10 – man of the match

Calvin Bassey

I can’t fault his efforts to push us forward when our attackers weren’t. He carried the ball forward so often when the full backs next to him seemed far more happy passing it inside and carried that same intensity off the ball in trying to push West Ham back into their own half. I can’t say the same defensive qualities were there as they were in Diop’s game, but that’s not to say there were many mistakes either, just very hit-and-miss in duals with West Ham’s frontline. 6.5/10

Antonee Robinson

Even if 2024/25 was an overperformance of Robinson’s true capabilities, the complete drop in form would make you think he still thinks he’s at Wigan Athletic. The way he jumps into challenges with no care or precision. The way he crosses the ball with such little composure. Everything is missing from what seemingly made his game so great. Even when he’s showing his pace is still there, it’s only used to recover from his own errors. He’s having no positive bearings in the games he plays in at the moment. 3.5/10

Sander Berge

I honestly didn’t think he was as terrible as normal. There were times in the first half where he actually seemed to be using his frame to contest for the ball in the midfield battle and he even started venturing with the ball into the final third. But even then, so much of what he did just seemed so messy. Touches going out of play, sloppy passes not finding their target in the final third, getting dribbled past too easily late on etc. He just can’t put a good 90 together that pushes his team to a decent result, which is not good enough with the position he plays. 5.5/10

Tom Cairney

I’m surprised he managed to play for an hour with how slow he seemed to be. I don’t want this to be a simple ‘his legs are gone’ thing because he’s influenced games well this season, but this was a poor showing. The incident in which we were originally awarded a penalty summed it up for me; he should have already got a shot away from that position before Taty even reaches the box behind him. He just had zero influence on the game, sadly. 4.5/10

Samuel Chukwueze

I’m a huge fan of Chukwueze, and at times on the left he’s shown moments of pure genius. This performance, on his supposedly more natural right side, was fairly rubbish. OK, he’s coming back to match fitness but still, the lack of quality final ball throughout was severely annoying. His pass and cross accuracy for a creative player were embarrassingly poor and back up the eye test on this one. His one shot of note came very early on, a weak effort straight down Hermansen’s throat after a one-two with King on the edge. 4/10

Josh King

I thought he was fairly unlucky to be subbed off an hour in considering the positive effect he was having on the game for us. Without doubt had our best chance, forcing a cracking save out of Hermansen on the brink of half time, though he probably should have scored. But the way in which he kept carrying the ball beyond West Ham’s midfield into the final third was unlike anything any of our other attackers were doing, and we lost that intent when he came off. 6.5/10.

Alex Iwobi

After looking like a player coming into form, Iwobi turned in another completely anonymous showing. His weak trivela effort half an hour in plus his sliced shot that went over the bar 68 minutes in were the only two times I can remember even seeing him on the pitch. There didn’t seem to be any emphasis on progressing the ball through him down the left and he seemed to have zero connection with Robinson either. Just such a nothing performance. 5/10

Raul Jimenez

I loved how well he fought for the ball throughout the first half, challenging for so many second balls from duals he’d already contested, never giving up on them, which is always admirable when you’re a frustrated striker lacking any service. One real effort came with his close-range free-kick on the brink of half time, which drifted into the head of Axel Disasi, rather than the top corner of Hermansen’s goal. 6/10

Substitutes

Emile Smith Rowe

It’s not too much of an issue with Smith Rowe, because I think the game was different in the final half an hour when he came on, but he didn’t have the same impact King had. His ball carrying happened about 20 yards further back than where King had the ball, and his final ball always seemed to be a lot safer than what Josh attempted, which wasn’t helpful after going behind. He wasn’t awful though. 6/10

Rodrigo Muniz

He continued his run of cameo performances that provided absolutely no reasons to suggest he should be starting a Premier League game over Raul any time soon. There’s still some leeway for Rodrigo; he had a big injury and hasn’t been given much service on the pitch in his fleeting returns, but soon we definitely need to see a spark from him. One header timidly going over the bar wasn’t one. 5.5/10

Oscar Bobb

I’m getting a bit frustrated at pointing out how Bobb has had a few nice touches, whether that be off the bench or from the start. It’s still early in his Fulham career, so like Muniz there is leeway to be given, but already, with the reputation he comes with from the Etihad, you’re wanting more from him in the final third. No real contributions of note here. 5.5/10

Timothy Castagne/Ryan Sessegnon came on too late to be fairly judged.

Marco Silva

I am just fed up. This is the fourth season where we enter March on the verge of making a run for Europe or thinking about a day at Wembley in a cup. While the Southampton fixture may take us a step further in one regard, this performance and result is exactly what has happened three seasons in a row when such opportunities arise for Silva.

The football so often recently has been so absurdly slow and lacking intent, even including in victories against the turgid opposition of Sunderland and Tottenham. His four changes here completely failed, as he put a team forward devoid of coherent attacking patterns of play or any intensity in general. The subs failed too, with King coming off in particular making us even poorer in West Ham’s half.

He seems to have a ceiling which he can’t take us above, and this is the sort of game during his reign that proves that. A dreadful managerial performance from Silva at the Cottage. 2.5/10